Sexually Transmitted Diseases/white itchy bumps

I am a 23 year old female. My vagina has been really irritable recently for the past 4 days, it goes through periods where it is very itchy and stinging. I noticed white bumps inside my vagina and sometimes extending to around the opening of my vagina. I'm worried it's herpes. Are these genital warts, or a normal vaginal occurrence? Is this another symptom of a bad yeast infection? I believe this happened before about 2 months ago. I am sexually active although I do wear condoms most of the time.

Thank you for your help!

AnswerHello Marina,
I cannot tell from the photos submitted. You may try to apply plain vinegar (full strength) to the area. It may burn but this may occur if you do have a yeast infection. If the bumps just turn whiter with the vinegar, without burning, than they may represent HPV/warts. If nothing happens other than removing some of the vaginal discharge, than everything will just look the same shade of pink.

The itching and stinging you now experience are usually because of an infection from yeast. This is NOT due to herpes.

Expertise

Almost any question or concern about gay men's health issues, sexually transmitted infections, abnormal Pap smears, anal cytology (anal "Pap smears"), etc.
There is no such thing as “d/d free” or “clean” (free of infection), so why do so many of us deceive ourselves into thinking that some people are indeed totally free from a potentially infectious disease, like HIV, herpes, hepatitis, syphilis, chlamydia, warts, gonorrhea, etc., just because they say so? Clinical laboratory tests are not perfect, and having a “negative” or “nonreactive” test does not mean that a person is free from infection. Perhaps at the moment the test was taken, the person was uninfected; or, perhaps, the test wasn’t sensitive enough to detect presence of the infection. There is really no way that anyone can determine that they are truly “disease free,” and there are over a hundred of infectious conditions that can be spread without your knowing anything.
Rather than trying to “pre-screen” or “serosort” a potential sex-mate with deceptive questions that are impossible to know by today’s technologies, a wiser option may be to consider everyone infected with something, and either use appropriate protective measures (“safer sex”), or accept the responsibility and consequences of possibly “catching” something from someone who’s hotter than expected (pun intended!).
There is much research that supports the contention that an HIV positive person reliably taking HIV medications, and having an undetectable viral load, presents a lower risk for transmission of HIV than people who may think or say they are HIV negative, but are not. Food for thought!

OrganizationsCo-Founder, Lesbian, Bisexual, & Gay Physician Assistant Caucus of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Inc.;
American Academy of Physician Assistants;
Wisconsin Academy of Physician Assistants;
National Co-Chair (2012-16), National Association of Black and White Men Together: A Gay, Multiracial Organization for All People (NABWMT)

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